and soon after noticed a whining noise from the rear
i put it up on 4 jack stands and with a stethoscope isolated the noise the the transmission coupling radial ball bearing #2
and this is what i did to fix it =====really it was an easy job
back up on 4 jack stands (need to do this so while in neutral you can turn the drive shaft to access all four drive shaft bolts)
-i took the rear tires off (not sure if you really have to or not)
1 remove the 4 bolts on the drive shaft connecting it to the trans coupling assembly
2 remove the two 17mm bolts holding the diff shown in diagram (came out easy)
-at this point the whole assembly will swing on the diff support ***(((((you don't need to remove half shafts or any other bolts)))))***
3 to separate the drive shaft, i needed to give it a few waps with a hammer and chisel in the gap between (support it with an old box or something)
4 remove the 4 bolts holding the carrier cover
5 tap the carrier cover off the diff
6 remove the dust deflector (mine just popped off when i removed the cover from the diff)
7 tap out the coupling assembly from the carrier
-i bought a new trans coupling assembly...but reused the old one (i'm gonna hold on to the new one till i'm sure the AWD works then its off to Ebay)
8 i used a chisel to remove the old bearings (they came off pretty easy)
9 i used a brass drift to TAP the new bearings on (didn't have any problems)
i put the carrier assem in the freezer and the new bearings in the sun
let it sit out to dry after, it will have some condensation from the cold
10 tap the trans coupling assem into the carrier
11 tap on the dust deflector (i couldnt get the new one on and had to reuse the old one)
12 remove the spacer and spring washer (should still be sitting in the diff)
13 pull and replace the "oil diaphragm seal"
14 put the spring washer and spacer back (red mark to front of car)
15 tap the carrier cover back on the diff and reinstall the bolts
16 bolt the drive shaft back on then reinstall the two 17mm bolts
hope this helps someone ...i couldnt find very much info before i did mine
and i used toyota parts with a total cost about $70 ...it took about 2 hours not including the time the coupling assem was in the freezer
the dealership quoted $2535.91 to do the job
thanks